Just Walk Away
by Get Real Or Die
Summary: The first day of the rest of her life. Oneshot.


Pairing: None

Summary: The first day of the rest of her life

Spoilers: Only if you don't know the team captains/members for Survivor Series 2006 and if you don't...where have you been?

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters mentioned. They belong to the McMahon family

Notes: I wrote this because a beautiful, kind woman is leaving one of the most…. interesting professions that has ever existed this Sunday and I have doubt in my mind that she will have to leave it as a loser. The vacating of the Women's Title twice in the same season let alone the same year is a bit repetitive even for Vince's screenwriters. I watched her for years and this weekend I get to watch her for one last time. I figured I might as well write what I could too.

Just Walk Away 1/1

"I'm sorry that I ruined your little make out session with Kelly. If it makes you feel better, you can take a swing at me. Fighting always cheers me up."

Matt blinked even as she bent over to lace up my new wrestling boots. Buying new boots on the last wrestling match of your career might seem foolish and wasteful, but Lita wanted them as a reminder if she won and as a piece of bittersweet nostalgia if she lost. Either way they were sweet. She had been walking the halls of the arena, taking in the sights and sounds. Breathing steadily, Lita knew that a part of her would miss this while another part would be glad to finally be leaving. It was an end of an era and it felt like she was finally free. Free from the sneers, Edge's expectations, free from everything.

Eventually, she had stopped into an empty locker room to watch John Cena's team go against Team Big Show. The boys were in their little strategy meeting in final preparation for their fight against Team DX. Figuring she might as well get dressed while she was there, Lita closed the door and stepped into her shirt and jeans. She'd just been about to lace her boots up when Matt Hardy stumbled into the locker room with his arms around Kelly the exhibitionist. Lita couldn't help it; she burst out laughing. Matt and Kelly had snapped apart and while a blushing Kelly left the room, Matt was still scowling at her.

That had been the point she sat down on the bench and removed her boots from the bag. They were red, silver, and black. A homage if you will to her status as being Rated R. She had looked for them for the past two weeks and it had only been the past Tuesday when she found them. In Columbus, Ohio of all places. Where she found them didn't matter. Just like it didn't matter that she and Edge had self-destructed months ago. He had been her friend, her savior, and then her lover. She would miss who he used to be if not who he had become in the quest for title gold. Anyway, she had delivered the quip unthinkingly and almost groaned out loud when Matt opened his mouth.

"And beating you up always makes me feel better. What do I have to do or give to keep you from running to Knox with what you just saw?"

Lita grinned in mirth. "I don't think you have anything that I want Matt. As for your little indiscretion with Kelly? While it would be amusing to see Michael tear you apart, he already knows about the things Kelly gets up to. He just doesn't care at the present but God help her if he decides to be displeased sometime in the future. The way he sees it, if a girl is that eager to strip in public, chances are she wouldn't mind doing it in private for whoever."

Matt paled, but he shot back. "You would know wouldn't you?"

Even as her grin faded, she shrugged. "If you say so Matt. If you say so. Just keep in mind these types of situations rarely end well." Shaking her head as she finished tying up her boots, Lita mused. She would know, to tell the truth. Unpleasant though it was to do, Lita always tried to tell herself the truth. Once upon a time she had been caught in Kelly's position and hopefully the stupid blonde wouldn't have to pay the price she had. The price she still paid.

The price she would finish paying as of tonight. With that thought firmly in mind, Lita didn't jump when Hardy dived at her. She fell off the bench with as much grace as she could manage and went as still as possible when Matt started hitting her. He loosened his hold on her and as soon as he did, Lita flipped over so that she was on top of him.

Punching him in the face as gently as she could but still hard enough to get an effect, Matt became dazed. Getting from on top of the older man, Lita brushed down her shirt and pants of any dust from the floor before pressing one of her boots onto his throat. As he started to gasp, Lita spoke clearly. "Don't touch me again Matthew. I'd hate for your team to be a member short just because you can't keep your hands to yourself." He nodded looking scared. He would be. Out of all the times that Matt had hit her, this was the first time she had fought back outside of the ring. Changing the situation always left Matt floundering, which would probably explain the comment he leveled at her as soon as she backed away from him.

"You actually think you're something don't you? 'Without me, there'd be no Trish Stratus. Without me there'd be no Mickie James.' I wish you'd drop dead." He stood up quickly, massaging at his throat.

She shrugged, already used to the fact that if she were on fire Matt Hardy wouldn't spit on her to put her out. "It's true though isn't it? If I hadn't stormed the building in 2003, Trish's career would have been over and she would have never been there to mentor Mickie James. But people are so myopic, so my little speech last week probably did come off as a bunch of back patting, self-congratulatory egotism. Well only to those people that don't know any better or have short memories and how is it that you're always one of them Matt?"

He sneered at her. "Bet you wish you didn't save her don't you? She got to leave at the top of her game as a 7 time Women's Champ, while you barely made it to number 4. Doesn't that kill you?" He looked gleeful as if he expected her to burst into tears.

It must have surprised him when she laughed. "It doesn't "kill me" and I never regretted going into the ring for her except when she decided that she liked making fun of my misery in 2004. Trish was good and the amount of time she's won the title shows that. But I came back from what was supposed to be a career ending neck injury. 4 ½ years ago, they said I'd never walk again and then I took that first step. They said I'd never wrestle again and then I did that first DDT. They said that I would never hold the Women's Title again and now I have it on my waist. I can't fault Trish with her success because she was good. But guess what Hardy? In my heart, I know I'll always be better because I've always been tougher. And if the record books don't show that, then the record books don't show that. But it's funny isn't it? Who do you think taught Trish how to do the Sharpshooter?"

He gaped at her as she nodded. "I did. Even in her last match Trish Stratus was being a credit to me and even if no one else knew it, she and I did. It was supposed to be symbolic or something but I guess it was ruined because we kind of hated each other up until Unforgiven. Then we just kind of didn't because it seemed futile. I couldn't be mad because it was like…." She looked down as she tried to find the words to explain. "coming full circle. We came into this business feuding with one another and it was fitting that she left while we were doing the same. I'm not Trish Stratus and I'll never be a 7 time women's Champ but then again she'll never be me and she'll never be the woman that participated in the first Women's steel cage match or the only woman that's ever won the women's title on Raw in a main event, so I guess it's all just a matter of perspective." She couldn't hate Trish Stratus anymore because of the fact that Stratus had taken advantage of her knee injury to hold the Women's Title. It was just how those cards fell when they were thrown in the air. Once upon a time they had been best friends and now they weren't. Things changed.

Just like she somehow, someway used to love the man in front of her and all he could do (all he could ever do) was tear her down. It was quite possible that he didn't get the memo on the fact that he didn't have that power over her anymore because he kept trying. "All I hear is loser. No matter how you paint it, in comparison to her you suck. Which from what I hear is something you're quite good at." Lita smiled ruefully as she looked at him. He didn't get it and he never would. Well, unless she told him.

"Who would have known you cheating on me would come back to haunt you?" He was shocked and it was kind of sad. "You don't actually think I would have cheated on you with Edge unless I had a reason, do you? It's funny isn't it Matt? All I ever had to do to get you to hate me was do the same thing you'd been doing for years. I just got persecuted for it is all." She leaned her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Despite your best efforts, despite all the hits I took and all the things I had to do to rectify the situation, I'm actually happy. I took the punishment you thought I deserved, the punishment the fans thought I deserved, and even the punishment management thought I should get. And in the midst of it all, I even punished myself. I took every finisher and every humiliation anyone could throw at me and it's finally over because I'm still standing."

She looked at him in remorse. "I am sorry about it and I think I always will be. Once upon a time we were friends and I forgot that because I was mad at you. I should have just walked away and called it quits. I didn't and so I paid the price. I paid big too. I lost you, I lost all of my friends, and I lost any kind of respect I had for myself. Now I realize that if I ever had you, you wouldn't have cheated first or did any of the horrible things you've done to me over the years, that if my friends were truly my friends they would have eventually forgave me when they saw how repentant I was, and that I can eventually respect myself again because it wasn't just my fault and I'm just me; not some kind of saint. It took me a while and it took a lot to drive the point home but at the end of the day I'm still standing so it's still a good day. The fact that we seem to be the only ones that give a damn about any of this anymore is sad Matt. I think it's time to just let it go." She looked at him sadly because this time next week she'd be ensconced in her home after a day of working with the animals she loved and he'd probably be nursing injuries from Friday Night Smackdown. What was amusing is Matt would think she got the raw end of the deal if the same thought ever crossed his mind.

She entered into the business as eager as anyone. All through training, Lita had taken care to expound the fact to Dory that just because she was the only girl in the class that she wasn't to be taken easy on. From ECW to WWF to WWE, from pedigrees to chair shots, from Matt to Edge. It had been a hell of a ride. But now she had nothing left to prove. At 31, she wanted to start a family and stay in her home for more than two days at a time. She wanted to be Amy and not Angelica, Ms. Congeniality, or Lita. She wanted to breathe in the fresh air of her garden and not the stale sweat of arenas. She wanted to hear the pure undiluted beauty of those North Carolina nights; not the sounds of boos or the slam of bodies into the canvas of a ring. She wanted it to be over and after tonight it was. No more traveling, no more hotels, no more pretending that wrestling was all there was to life when you knew in your heart of hearts there just had to be more.

She breathed deeply before walking over to her stuff. She grabbed her shoes, her title belt, and her street clothes putting them all into her duffel bag. Lita settled the bag onto her shoulder before walking over to Matt. She didn't know why she was going to say this but she was going to say it. "Tonight is my last match and then that's it. Everything I've done in my career; in my life has somehow culminated into this match and I don't know how but that's okay. I'm going to try my damndest to win and I think I will." She smiled at him. "Good luck on your match tonight Matt. If Edge and Randy's enthusiasm is any indication, I think you're going to need it." Then she turned around and walked away from the first guy she loved, the first guy she honestly thought she would spend the rest of her life with.

She didn't look back. Lita never did.


End file.
